1st April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
The four human rights activists arrested three days ago on Thursday 30th March on a peaceful Land Day protest action now face the Israeli military court at Ofer tomorrow, 2nd April. They are charged with participating in an illegal demonstration and being in a closed military zone. They were in fact exercising their human rights of freedom of expression and assembly.
All four belong to the Dismantle the Ghetto Coalition and the ISM team here in al-Khalil has been working with and supporting their actions.
Please act immediately in Hebrew, English or your own language:
• Call the Israeli embassy consulate and demand the immediate release of the four activists.
• Call the Israeli embassy consulate and demand the Israeli authorities immediately drop all charges against the four activists.
• Demand an immediate end to the continued harassment of the four activists and other human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
31st March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
A Palestinian demonstrator is arrested dragged down the hill by an Israeli soldier.
On Thursday the 30th March, four prominent Palestinian activists were violently arrested by Israeli forces following an olive tree planting action marking the 41st Land Day demonstrations in al-Khalil.
ISM activists joined demonstrators who had gathered near the Palestinian house now occupied by the army in the Jabari area of al-Khalil. The demonstrators were already surrounded by dozens of Israeli soldiers, border police, and civilian Israeli police. Over fifty Palestinian demonstrators then made their way down the steep hill into the olive groves where, accompanied by international activists, as well as the international press, they planted a number of olive trees in defiance of the continuing dispossession and destruction of their olive groves by Israeli settlers.
A young boy plants an olive tree as part of the Land Day action.
Once the trees were planted, demonstrators made their way back up to the road where they were met by an increased number of Israeli forces claiming that the area had been declared a closed military zone. The demonstration continued on an embankment beside the road. However, it wasn’t long before Israeli forces began pursuing and violently arresting Palestinian demonstrators, whilst colonial settlers – including the notorious Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה) – harrassed and filmed them.
Israeli forces push demonstrators to the ground before arresting themA Palestinian man is pulled away by border police, who are believed to have broken one of his hands.
As the demonstrators made their way up the hill they continued to be harassed by Ofer Yohana and other colonial settlers and Israeli forces, who took photos and videos of them using their mobile phones. One Israeli settler attempted to block ISM activists from filming by holding up an Israeli flag, and telling the activists to ‘Go [back] to Europe!’. Despite one Palestinian man telling Israeli forces that one of his cuffed hands had been broken in the arrest, the detainees were pushed into military vehicles and taken away.
The Israeli colonial settler who demanded international activists ‘Go to Europe!’
The four Palestinian activists are currently still detained, and will be charged on Sunday at the military court in Ofer. They are charged with participating in an illegal demonstration and being present in a closed military zone.
All four Palestinians who were arrested had long commitmented to non-violent public protest in their home city of Khalil. Shortly before being arrested one of them had heard soldiers tell him that it was ‘his turn’ soon. These arrests are part of ongoing Israeli efforts to close down all public protest in the city. Despite the many injustices faced by non-violent activists across Palestine, the resistance continues.
Demonstrators gather along the roadside, chanting and waving banners.
30th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Wednesday 29th March 2017 Israeli forces opened a blocked-off street for the first time in almost two decades to allow long-overdue sewage system works. The alley in occupied al-Khalil, open for less than a day, gave Palestinians the rare opportunity to see Shuhada Street and the illegal settlements which have caused countless closures for the civilian Palestinian population.
Palestinians working on the sewage-system while Israeli forces stand by
Palestinians have been pursuing permission from the Israeli side to do this maintenance work for years – with no success. The market in the Old Town runs almost parallel to Shuhada Street, where the main illegal settlements in the heart of Hebron are located and where Palestinians are totally prohibited. As one of the lowest points in the Old City, this area of the souq is regularly flooded in winter by rain water and overflowing sewage as much of the sewage system has been cut off by the illegal settlements. Despite a one-day ‘permit’ granted by Israeli forces for work to be undertaken, several delays were caused when Israeli forces would not allow additional maintenance vehicles to enter the area. Furthermore, the small amount of time granted by the permit only allowed workers to fix a short stretch of sewage pipe immediately beneath the concrete slabs, with other vital works having to be postponed.
Palestinians gathering to watch the ongoing work
Heavily armed Israeli forces were present on site at all times to ‘guard’ the path to what was once a thriving Palestinian market and the main route between north and south al-Khalil. After the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994 – in which colonial settler Baruch Goldstein gunned down and killed 29 Palestinians and injured more than 120 more when he opened fire with his machine gun during prayers – Israeli forces have slowly but steadily eradicated the Palestinian presence in Shuhada Street. This process has been achieved through broader, ever-increasing restrictions, harassment, and intimidation towards the Palestinian civil population of al-Khalil.
During the maintenence, passing Palestinians could be seen reacting with surprise and stopping to watch the work and take photographs. Sunlight – long hidden by the high cement slabs barricading the street – suddenly flooded the souq from the small archway. For many Palestinians, this brief opening served as a reminder of a time before the severe crackdown on Palestinian human rights by the Israeli forces in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. One elderly man demanded the soldiers let him through so he may visit his shop, which remains sealed-up on Shuhada Street where Palestinian movement is entirely forbidden by Israeli forces to favour and facilitate settler movement.
After less than a day of permitted work for Palestinians, the access is tightly blocked off again
26th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Hebron protests against AIPAC.
Dozens of Palestinians gathered in Tel Rumeida, al Khalil, to protest against the annual AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference held in Washington, DC. Lacking the freedom of movement to protest in DC, the people of Hebron still want their voices to be heard.
Dozens lined the streets of Tel Rumeida to protest the AIPAC conference held in Washington, DC.
21st March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
In the early morning of the 21st March a group of Israeli forces carried out ID checks and body searches on young Palestinian men and children on their morning commutes through the souk (old market) of Hebron.
Two ISM activists were walking to a checkpoint to monitor and report on violations of freedom of movement when they encountered large numbers of Israeli soldiers in the souk. Local Palestinians were ordered at gunpoint to throw their ID cards on the ground for inspection, and many were subjected to body searches and made to sit in the road. One boy was ordered to remove his shoes and toss them towards the soldiers before being made to sit on the cold ground for over fifteen minutes.
A young Palestinian boy is made to remove his shoes and sit on the ground for fifteen minutes by Israeli forces.
Cars were also stopped, delayed, or diverted. One Palestinian shop owner was forced to leave his van whilst he and it were both searched by Israeli forces.
A Palestinian man is stopped by Israeli forces whilst driving through the souk.
The incursion lasted for over an hour before the Israeli forces returned through the gate which leads to the military base, having searched over fifteen Palestinians and delayed many more. Incursions such as this highlight the restrictions on freedom of movement faced by Palestinians in Hebron and across the West Bank every day.
A van driver is body searched and questioned by Israeli forces.
The driver is made to sit whilst Israeli forces search his van.
